The present invention relates to a control device for and a method of controlling a sample separation apparatus for separating a fluidic sample, and relates to a sample separation apparatus.
In liquid chromatography, a fluidic sample and an eluent (liquid mobile phase) may be pumped through conduits and a column in which separation of sample components takes place. The column may comprise a material which is capable of separating different components of the fluidic sample. Such a packing material, so-called beads which may comprise silica gel, may be filled into a column tube which may be connected to other elements (like a sampler, a detector) by conduits.
Two-dimensional separation of a fluidic sample denotes a separation technique in which a first separation procedure in a first separation unit is performed to separate a fluidic sample into a plurality of fractions, and in which a subsequent second separation procedure in a second separation unit is performed to further separate at least one of the plurality of fractions into sub-fractions. Two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D LC) may combine two liquid chromatography separation techniques and plot the time dependency of detection events along two orthogonal time axes.
Two-dimensional liquid chromatography apparatuses are powerful, but are more prone to artifacts in a chromatogram.